Trick-taking card game with card replacement by auction winner

ABSTRACT

Provided is a system for playing a trick-taking card game with card replacement. The system may include a dealing module to deal, from a deck of playing cards, all but an integral multiple of four cards, to each player from two opposing teams of two players, each player receiving an equal set of playing cards; and a receiving module to receive, from each player, bidding data indicating a number of tricks a bidding player contracts to win over a course of a hand, with a bidding player with a highest bid being an auction winner, trump suit data indicating a trump suit for the hand of the card game, a request to discard playing cards selected by the auction winner, and move data indicating moves of players. The system may further include an analysis module to determine a score of the players and a result of the card game.

FIELD

The field of the invention relates generally to data processing and particularly to trick-taking card games.

BACKGROUND

Trick-taking card games such as Whist and its variations are very popular worldwide. For example, a traditional game of Tarneeb is a dynamic trick-taking game, in which the aim is to win as many tricks as possible. A standard 52-card deck is used, with each suit ranking in the usual way from Ace (high) down to two (low). The game of Tarneeb is normally played counterclockwise by four players in partnerships of two teams.

In the game of Tarneeb, a trick is a round of four cards, with a single card thrown by each player in turn. A hand is complete once the cards are dealt, the auction is completed, 13 full tricks have been played, and the score has been tallied. An auction is the process that decides the auction winner, the contract, and the trump suit. The auction winner is a player who declares a highest bid on behalf of his team and selects the trump suit. The opposing team can be referred to as the defending team. The contract is the agreed upon number of tricks that the bidding team expects to win, at minimum.

The game of Tarneeb is complete when either team's cumulative scores are equal to or greater than the predetermined goal. The predetermined goal is generally 31 points, but can be another predetermined amount.

There are several variations of the game of Tarneeb. Some variations are played clockwise, some allow the auction winner to choose No Trump as their trump suit, and some require specifying the proposed trump suit as well as the number of tricks.

SUMMARY

This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

Provided are the methods and systems for playing a trick-taking card game with card replacement by auction winner. In some embodiments, the method for playing a trick-taking card game with card replacement by auction winner may be based on dealing, from a deck of playing cards, all but an integral multiple of four cards to each player, with each player receiving an equal set of playing cards; receiving, from each player, bidding data indicating a number of tricks a bidding player contracts, on behalf of a team associated with the player, to win over a course of a hand, with a bidding player with a highest bid being an auction winner; dealing the integral multiple of four playing cards to the auction winner; receiving, from the auction winner, a request to discard, from the set of playing cards associated with the auction winner, playing cards selected by the auction winner, with the number of the playing cards discarded being equal to the integral multiple of four playing cards; discarding the playing cards selected by the auction winner; receiving move data from the players, in succession, until all the playing cards held by the players are played, which indicates the end of the hand of card game.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

Embodiments are illustrated by way of example and not limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which like references indicate similar elements and in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a sample environment within which systems and methods for playing a trick-taking card game with card replacement by auction winner are implemented, according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a sample system for playing a trick-taking card game with card replacement by auction winner, according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a method for playing a trick-taking card game with card replacement by auction winner.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating a more detailed method for playing a trick-taking card game with card replacement by auction winner.

FIG. 5 illustrates the beginning of a trick-taking card game with card replacement by auction winner, when playing cards are dealt.

FIG. 6 illustrates the auction round of a trick-taking card game with card replacement by auction winner, when players make their bids.

FIG. 7 illustrates receiving of unclaimed cards by the auction winner, the number of the unclaimed cards being an integral multiple of four.

FIG. 8 illustrates moves of players of a trick-taking card game with card replacement by auction winner.

FIG. 9 is a diagrammatic representation of an example machine in the form of a computer system within which a set of instructions for causing the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein is executed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description includes references to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of the detailed description. The drawings show illustrations, in accordance with example embodiments. These example embodiments, which are also referred to herein as “examples,” are described in enough detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the present subject matter.

The embodiments can be combined, other embodiments can be utilized, or structural, logical and electrical changes can be made without departing from the scope of what is claimed. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

In this document, the terms “a” or “an” are used, as is common in patent documents, to include one or more than one. In this document, the term “or” is used to refer to a nonexclusive “or,” such that “A or B” includes “A but not B,” “B but not A,” and “A and B,” unless otherwise indicated. Furthermore, all publications, patents, and patent documents referred to in this document are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety, as though individually incorporated by reference. In the event of inconsistent usages between this document and those documents so incorporated by reference, the usage in the incorporated reference(s) should be considered supplementary to that of this document; for irreconcilable inconsistencies, the usage in this document controls. In accordance with various embodiments and the corresponding disclosure thereof, a trick-taking card game with card replacement by auction winner has been provided.

In some embodiments, a trick-taking card game with card replacement by auction winner may be played in a counterclockwise direction by four players divided into two teams of partners positioned opposite of each other. To determine the dealer for the first hand, a card may be flipped face up for each player and the player with the highest card deals; the deal may be passed in a counterclockwise direction for future hands.

In some embodiments, the game may be played in a clockwise direction. The dealer may start a hand by distributing a standard 52-card deck face down so that each player receives an equal set of playing cards (preferably 12), and an integral multiple of four cards remain undealt and placed face down in the center of the table. When the cards are dealt, the auction may begin.

During the auction, every player may declare a number of tricks he contracts to win over the course of the hand together with a partner. Players make their bids in turns, with all subsequent bids being of greater value than any previous bid. A player who does not want to bid may pass.

In some embodiments, the hand may be re-dealt. For example, re-dealing may occur when all players pass without placing a bid during the auction, or when a player is dealt a hand with one or fewer face cards and zero aces. The player asks for the cards to be a re-dealt at their first turn to bid during the auction.

Once the auction starts, bids can be placed by players in turn around the table as many times as necessary until all but one player has passed. The player who is left is the auction winner and may declare the trump suit. When the trump suit is declared, all tricks of the hand of the game may be able to be played with the designated trump suit.

In some embodiments, before or after declaring the trump suit, the auction winner may receive the integral multiple of four cards that remained undealt. The cards may be added to the cards initially dealt to the auction winner, and the auction winner may choose any cards, equal in number to the received cards, which are to be discarded. The chosen cards may be discarded and the auction winner may then have the number of cards equal to the number of cards of other players. In some embodiments, the discarded cards may be kept face down and counted as the first trick won by the auction winner.

After the auction winner declares the trump suit, receives the undealt cards, and discards cards of his choice, he may lead the second trick and thereafter, the winner of each trick leads the next. Players follow the suit that is led, if they are able to do so. Those unable to follow the suit may play any remaining card from their hand, whether it is from the trump suit or another suit.

When all cards are played, the hand may be considered completed and a score of the hand may be determined. In some embodiments, if the team of the auction winner wins the number of tricks that is equal or exceeds the contract, the team of the auction winner may be awarded a score that matches the number of tricks the auction winner and his/her partner won. The opposing team in such situation may receive a zero score or a score that matches the number of tricks won.

If the team of the auction winner fails to satisfy their contract, the team of the auction winner may receive a negative score that corresponds to the number of tricks they bid. In such a situation, the opposing team may receive a score that corresponds to the number of tricks they secured.

In some embodiments, if the team of the auction winner wins the auction for any amount less than all tricks and then proceeds to win all tricks, they are awarded bonus points.

In some embodiments each hand of the card game may be scored separately and then combined into a cumulative score. The card game may be considered complete when a cumulative score of either team is equal to or greater than the predetermined goal. In some example embodiments, the predetermined goal may be 31 points or any other number of points.

In some embodiments, the hand played with the maximum possible number of tricks contracted can be played to sudden death, regardless of the game score. The winner of such hand is considered the winner of the game.

Referring now to the drawings, FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a sample environment within which systems and methods for playing a trick-taking card game with card replacement by auction winner are implemented, according to an example embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, the sample network environment 100 can comprise a network 110, one or more user devices 120, and a system for playing the trick-taking card game with card replacement by auction winner 200.

The network 110 may be utilized to enable the real time exchange of data between various components of the network environment 100. The network 110, in one example embodiment, is a global system of interconnected computer networks (e.g., the Internet) that use the standard Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP) to serve users worldwide. The network 110 may include a network of networks that consists of private, public, academic, business, and government networks of local to global scope that are linked by a broad array of satellite, wireless, electronic, and optical networking technologies. The network 110 may carry a vast array of information resources and services, including the inter-linked hypertext documents of the World Wide Web (WWW) and the infrastructure to support electronic mail (email).

A player 130 may access the system for playing the trick-taking card game with card replacement by auction winner 200 via the network 110 using a user device 120. In another example embodiment, the system for playing the trick-taking card game with card replacement by auction winner 200 may be downloaded via the network 110 and installed on the user device 120 or installed from a storage device 150 (such as a disk, a drive, or another device) on the user device 120.

When accessed via network 110 or initialized locally, the system for playing the trick-taking card game with card replacement by auction winner 200 displays an interface 140 of the card game. The interface 140 may allow the player to play the card game, modify options for the card game, specify preferences for playing the card game, view statistics, customize the card game, and so forth.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a sample system for playing the trick-taking card game with card replacement by auction winner, according to an example embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 2, the system for playing the trick-taking card game with card replacement by auction winner 200 may comprise a dealing module 202, a receiving module 204, an analysis module 206, and a data storage module 208. The foregoing modules are explained in more detail below with reference to FIG. 3.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a method 300 for playing the trick-taking card game with card replacement by auction winner. The method 300 may be performed by processing logic that may comprise hardware (e.g., dedicated logic, programmable logic, microcode, etc.), software (such as that which is run on a general-purpose computer system or a dedicated machine), or a combination of both. In one example embodiment, the processing logic resides at the system 200 illustrated in FIG. 2.

The method 300 may commence at operation 302 with the dealing module 202 dealing a deck of playing cards (12 cards for each player and 4 unclaimed cards). At operation 304, the receiving module may receive, from each player, bidding data indicating a number of tricks a bidding player contracts on behalf of a team associated with the player in order to win over a course of a hand. The bidding player with a highest bid is considered an auction winner. At operation 306, the trump suit data may be received from the auction winner. Then, at operation 308, the unclaimed cards may be added to the cards of the auction winner, who can choose any four cards, from the received unclaimed cards and the cards initially dealt to him, to be discarded. When the auction winner makes his choice, a request to discard the chosen cards is received at operation 310. The cards may be discarded at operation 312. After that, at operation 314, move data may be received, beginning from the auction winner leading the trick and then from the rest of the players in turn. The winner of each trick may lead the next hand. When all cards are played, a score of the played hand may be determined at operation 316 based on the team of the auction winner satisfying the contract. The determined score may be stored at operation 318, and at operation 320, it may be determined whether the score of any team has reached the predetermined goal.

FIG. 4 shows a method 400 illustrating the steps of the trick-taking card game with card replacement by auction winner. The method 400 may be performed by processing logic that may comprise hardware (e.g., dedicated logic, programmable logic, microcode, etc.), software (such as that which is run on a general-purpose computer system or a dedicated machine), or a combination of both. In one example embodiment, the processing logic resides at the system 200 illustrated in FIG. 2.

At step 402, the game may commence. Then, a standard deck of 52 playing cards is dealt 404 at twelve cards for each player, and the remaining four cards are left face down in the center of the table. After that, players' bids may be received 406 until there are no more players willing to make a bigger bid 408. The player whose bid was the largest may be determined as the auction winner 410. After that, the trump suit data may be received from the auction winner 412, and the undealt four cards may be added to the cards of the auction winner 414. Then, the auction winner chooses four cards he wants to discard, and a request to discard the spare cards may be received 416. At step 418 the spare cards may be discarded. Then, the winner of the previous trick may make a lead 420 (for the second trick, the auction winner makes a lead) and other players may make their moves 422 according to the lead. After all players have made their moves, the winner of the trick may be determined 424 to identify the player who is entitled to lead the next move. As long as players have cards left 426, steps 420-424 repeat. When all cards are played, the hand is considered complete, and a score of the played hand may be determined 428 based on the correspondence of the number of tricks won by the team of the auction winner to their contract. The determined score of the hand may be added to cumulative score 430, and if the cumulative score has not reached the predetermined goal 432, the steps 404-432 repeat, until the answer at step 432 is No. Then, at step 434, the winner of the game is determined and the game ends 436.

FIG. 5 illustrates the beginning of a trick-taking card game with card replacement by auction winner, when playing cards are dealt. At this stage, each player 502 has an equal number of cards 504, and an integral multiple of four cards 506 is placed in the middle of the table.

FIG. 6 illustrates the auction round of a trick-taking card game with card replacement by auction winner, when players make their bids. Each player 602 makes his bid 604 in a counterclockwise direction, and all subsequent bids are of greater value than the previous bids.

FIG. 7 illustrates receiving of unclaimed cards, the number of which constitutes an integral multiple of four, by the auction winner. The auction winner 704 receives the undealt cards 708 that are added to the initially dealt cards 706 of the auction winner 704. The hand info box 702 displays information on the hand being played, such as the bid of the auction winner 704, the trump suit after it is declared, and so forth.

FIG. 8 illustrates moves of players of the trick-taking card game with card replacement by auction winner. The player 802 leads the trick with the card 804, and the player 806 makes his move with the card 808 according to the card 804. The tricks already won 810 by the player 802 are displayed next to him. The scores of the teams are displayed by the scores box 812.

FIG. 9 is a diagrammatic representation of an example machine 900 in the form of a computer system within which a set of instructions for causing the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein is executed.

In various example embodiments, the machine operates as a standalone device or may be connected (e.g., networked) to other machines. The machine may include its own internal database or be connected to an external database in order to provide substantially real time updates. In a networked deployment, the machine may operate in the capacity of a server or a client machine in a server-client network environment, or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment. The machine may be a personal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a cellular telephone, a portable music player (e.g., a portable hard drive audio device such as an Moving Picture Experts Group Audio Layer 3 (MP3) player), a web appliance, a network router, switch or bridge, or any machine capable of executing a set of instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine. Further, while only a single machine is illustrated, the term “machine” shall also be taken to include any collection of machines that individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.

The example machine 900 includes a processor or multiple processors 902 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), or both), a main memory 908, and a static memory 914, which communicate with each other via a bus 928. The computer system 900 may further include a video display unit 906 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD)). The computer system 900 may also include an alphanumeric input device 912 (e.g., a keyboard), a cursor control device 916 (e.g., a mouse), a voice recognition or biometric verification unit (not shown), a disk drive unit 920, a signal generation device 926 (e.g., a speaker), and a network interface device 918. The computer system 900 may further include a data encryption module (not shown) to encrypt data.

The disk drive unit 920 includes a computer-readable medium 922 on which is stored one or more sets of instructions and data structures (e.g., instructions 910) embodying or utilizing any one or more of the methodologies or functions described herein. The instructions 910 may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 908 and/or within the processors 902 during execution thereof by the computer system 900. The main memory 908 and the processors 902 may also constitute machine-readable media.

The instructions 910 may further be transmitted or received over a network 924 via the network interface device 918 utilizing any one of a number of well-known transfer protocols (e.g., Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP)).

While the computer-readable medium 922 is shown in an example embodiment to be a single medium, the term “computer-readable medium” should be taken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database and/or associated caches and servers) that store the one or more sets of instructions. The term “computer-readable medium” shall also be taken to include any medium that is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying a set of instructions for execution by the machine and that causes the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies of the present application, or that is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying data structures utilized by or associated with such a set of instructions. The term “computer-readable medium” shall accordingly be taken to include, but not be limited to, solid-state memories, optical and magnetic media, and carrier wave signals. Such media may also include, without limitation, hard disks, floppy disks, flash memory cards, digital video disks, random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), and the like.

The example embodiments described herein may be implemented in an operating environment comprising software installed on a computer, in hardware, or in a combination of software and hardware.

Thus, example embodiments of systems and methods for playing a trick-taking card game with card replacement by auction winner have been described. Although embodiments have been described with reference to specific example embodiments, it will be evident that various modifications and changes may be made to these embodiments without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the system and method described herein. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method for playing a card game, the method comprising: dealing, from a deck of playing cards, all but an integral multiple of four cards to each player from two opposing teams of two players, each player receiving an equal set of playing cards; receiving, from each player, bidding data indicating a number of tricks a bidding player contracts, on behalf of a team associated with the player, to win over a course of a hand, a bidding player with a highest bid being an auction winner; receiving, from the auction winner, trump suit data indicating a trump suit for the hand of the card game; dealing the integral multiple of four playing cards to the auction winner, thereby increasing a set of playing cards associated with the auction winner by the integral multiple of four playing cards; receiving, from the auction winner, a request to discard, from the set of playing cards associated with the auction winner, playing cards selected by the auction winner, the number of the playing cards discarded being equal to the integral multiple of four playing cards; discarding the playing cards selected by the auction winner; receiving move data from the players, in succession, until all the playing cards held by the players are played; determining whether the team associated with the auction winner has won at least the number of tricks contracted to win by the auction winner; and based on the determination, selectively assigning scores to the teams for the hand.
 2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the playing cards selected by the auction winner are discarded before or after the auction winner views the integral multiple of four playing cards.
 3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein upon a determination that the team associated with the auction winner has not won at least the number of tricks contracted to win by the auction winner, the number of tricks contracted to win or a predetermined number associated with the number of tricks contracted to win is subtracted from the score associated with the team of the auction winner, and the team opposite to the team associated with the auction winner is awarded a score equal to the number of tricks won or to a predetermined number associated with the number of tricks won.
 4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein upon a determination that the team associated with the auction winner has won at least the number of tricks contracted to win by the auction winner, the number of tricks contracted to win or the predetermined number associated with the number of tricks contracted to win is added to the score associated with the team of the auction winner and the team opposite to the team associated with the auction winner gets nothing or the predetermined number associated with the number of tricks won.
 5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising continuing playing the game until a cumulative score of a team reaches a predetermined goal.
 6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the card game is played in a counterclockwise direction.
 7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the card game is played in a clockwise direction.
 8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the integral multiple of four playing cards is discarded by the auction winner.
 9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the team associated with the auction winner is granted additional score points for winning extra tricks in excess of the number of tricks contracted to win by the auction winner.
 10. A system for playing a card game, the system comprising: a dealing module to deal, from a deck of playing cards, all but an integral multiple of four cards, to each player from two opposing teams of two players, each player receiving an equal set of playing cards; a receiving module to receive, from each player, bidding data indicating a number of tricks a bidding player contracts, on behalf of a team associated with the player, to win over a course of a hand, a bidding player with a highest bid being an auction winner; trump suit data indicating a trump suit for the hand of the card game; a request to discard from the set of playing cards associated with the auction winner, playing cards selected by the auction winner, a number of the playing cards discarded being equal to the integral multiple of four playing cards; and move data indicating moves of players; an analysis module to determine a score of the players and a result of the card game; a data storage module to store data and the one or more scores related to the card game.
 11. The system of claim 11, wherein the playing cards selected by the auction winner are discarded before or after the auction winner views the integral multiple of four playing cards.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein upon a determination that the team associated with the auction winner has not won at least the number of tricks contracted to win by the auction winner, the number of tricks contracted to win or a predetermined number associated with the number of tricks contracted to win is subtracted from the score associated with the team of the auction winner, and the team opposite to the team associated with the auction winner is awarded a score equal to the number of tricks won or to a predetermined number associated with the number of tricks won.
 13. The system of claim 11, wherein upon a determination that the team associated with the auction winner has won at least the number of tricks contracted to win by the auction winner, the number of tricks contracted to win is added to the score associated with the team of the auction winner and the other team gets nothing or the predetermined number associated with the number of tricks won.
 14. The system of claim 11, further comprising continuing playing the game until a cumulative score of a team reaches a predetermined goal.
 15. The system of claim 11, wherein the card game is played in a counterclockwise direction.
 16. The system of claim 11, wherein the card game is played in a clockwise direction.
 17. The system of claim 11, wherein the integral multiple of four playing cards is discarded by the auction winner.
 18. The system of claim 11, wherein the team associated with the auction winner is granted additional score points for winning extra tricks in excess of the number of tricks contracted to win by the auction winner.
 19. A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed, perform the following operations: provide a representation, on a display, of a plurality of playing cards dealt to each player from two opposing teams of two players and an integral multiple of four cards undealt; receive data from players, the data including bidding data indicating a number of tricks a bidding player contracts, on behalf of a team associated with the player, to win over a course of a hand, a bidding player with a highest bid being an auction winner; trump suit data indicating a trump suit for the hand of the card game; a request to discard from the set of playing cards associated with the auction winner, playing cards selected by the auction winner, the number of the playing cards discarded being equal to the integral multiple of four playing cards; and move data indicating moves of players; analyze the card game to determine a score of the players and a result of the card game; store data and the one or more scores related to the card game. 